COLD COLD and REALLY COLD! Joints, Arthritic Illnesses & such DO NOT like the COLD! Holter monitors, endoscopies & run, run, run...

HOW THE BODY "FIGHTS BACK" WITH Chronic Illnesses, against cold weather, too many errands and on the go too much, feeling lousy, sinus infection, too many "doctor's appts" and life with RA, Lupus, Sjogren's and all the others that follow....


Too much this week again and it's only Wednesday! TWO doctor's appts yesterday, labs, market, the post office (by the way stamps are going up I don't recall when she said but I think to 57 cents a piece).... then to the pharmacy... found out I have a darned sinus infection... so I went to get other meds HOPING that after several hours antibiotics would be ready and they were NOT... so now I have to go out into the COLDER WEATHER TODAY, and pick those up.....

then my cardiologist thinks that since I am having issues over the past couple of months of feeling"blah"... just not wanting to do things and having to "force" myself to cook and clean etc... and it's not like me to not be LOOKING for something to do, BUT this COLD weather, I cannot handle it, it just makes me want to hibernate like our friendly friends Mr. and Mrs. Bear....

so after I "finish" with catch up on two more doctors appts then we will do the 24 holter monitor... my heart rate was 48 BPM in the morning and only 50BPM when I saw her at 4:00 yesterday, so she is now concerned that the lower heart rate "could be" contributing to me feeling just "lousy".... anyway, I have to now reschedule the appt to see the general surgeon to do the endoscopy and talk to him about trying the new "Colo Guard test" and see what it says.

And then I see my Rheumy on Feb 6th, which I think I posted yesterday.... and I was in a hurry so of course I did not recall and get a couple of things on my list... so I have to get out today and get those antibiotics anyway... so I may try to run by the market and pick up the couple of things I forgot... later in the day when it it a "balmy 48 degrees",,, LOL and I STILL am trying to decide about the shower partial clog... actually both were better yesterday, so if I keep on with the dish soap, baking soda and vinegar.. I "MAY" get 'er done myself!"

THIS WAS MY FORECAST YESTERDAY!!! I am giving my "weather forecast" for the next 5 days or so... COLD, RAINING, COLD, COLDER, RAINING AND MORE COLD!!!! OR at LEAST THAT IS WHAT MANY OF MY JOINTS, ESPECIALLY MY HIP THAT WAS FRACTURED IS TELLING ME!

Colonoscopy and Endoscopy - Just another procedure to put us through....n Life with Chronic Pain, RA, Lupus & chronic illness

Going through the Ordeal to get Ready for an Endoscopy and Colonoscopy!

Also Barrett's which I have and my Anemia is getting worse every 3 months, and my Parathyroid Labs are all "off" also....

So, I started to see the surgeon on Thursday afternoon, to see about scheduling that endoscopy and colonoscopy... and about the time I was leaving the house, I "felt" one of those drenching sweats coming on, plus they were supposed to put the holter monitor on me for 24 hours while I was there... I almost called and cancelled, but decided I would "try" to at least get into the surgeon... 

and wait on the monitor... because the leads will not stick on my skin if I am having one of those horrible drenching cold sweats... so the doctor was running over an hour late! I knew I was getting worse, but fortunately it was not a terribly bad one, but I did put off the monitor and told them I would try next week... and I did get in, so I have the endoscopy and colonoscopy on November the 14th!!! And now the way they "clean out" your digestive tract is almost silly.... 

rather than drink that "lime stuff" like you used to, you get 2 32 ounce bottles of Gatorade or Pedialyte... 2 bottles of "Miralax"... and 5 Ducolax pills... and mix the Miralax in the Gatorade and drink it like a glass every 10 minutes until you are finished with it, this is at noon and you are "fasting" anyway, with jello, etc the whole day before", and then at 6PM you drink the other Gatorade and Miralax and I think in between take those Dulolax pills!!!! 

Good Lord I hope that does not make me sick... that is a lot of Gatorade, and I guess it helps to "hydrate" you, rather than used to, you would be almost dehydrated doing it the old way.... anyway, I just hope they can do it early in the morning on the 14th and get it over with... I've got to get hold of my son, and see if he can get off work to take me... of course they put you to sleep so you have to have someone to drive you home after it's done.... I still have not heard from the Endocrinologist... but I guess I will call myself and try to schedule an appt if I don't hear from them by early next week....

Hoping a better 2018! Lupus flare, RA flare, Flu virus, Chronic Pain severity, epidemic, wishing for a better year than since 2014 wanting to get back to writing, blogging and advocacy work

Putting "hopefully" my writing, posting, advocacy and writing areas of my life back in the forefront. The past two years, really more like since late 2014, seem to have been a nightmare. 

I've had good things happen, but losing two of my fur-babies, my Mom getting ill so quickly and passing away in 6 months, losing my Mom's "baby" sister, losing my marriage and not sure why yet, having a pain pump replaced, having a fractured hip and spending Christmas 2016 in the hospital and inpatient rehab, the a very complicated neck surgery in April 2017 that took me months to just get out of a hard collar with, and now my Lupus and RA are really giving me heck... much more but those are a few of the "highlights" that really put my several years previously in a spot where I felt I would NEVER be able to get back to my advocacy, activism, writing, blogging, posting... and the things I want and love to do... And I am still going through stuff health wise, my neck is really hurting again, and has been, but my shoulder as I say below, that has already had a complicated replacement began acting up, right after the last neck surgery. We have changed RA medications trying to get the RA flares under control, and my lower back and legs really beginning to bother me again...

I am not sure if the ridiculous weather we are having is a huge factor, but generally the WEATHER has always had a huge impact on me, when it comes to chronic pain, and migraines.... way before I could ever get a physician to "agree" with me, I KNEW the weather effected my severe migraines when they were so bad for over 20 years of my early life. 

Now all doctors and health professionals agree that the weather, temperature, humidity, erratic weather, cold one day, hot the next, all of those things and the barametric pressure have sometimes severe effects on many illnesses, especially chronic pain...

I ASK that each of you the "follow me" here, on my daily newspaper, through Facebook, Twitter or wherever to keep me in your thoughts and prayers as the year progresses. I REALLY want to get back to those things such as my writing and blogging... more on the advocacy side, but even sitting here at the computer puts me in such pain at times, there are days it hurts to sit, stand, walk, lie, no matter what I do, it is severe on some days, and here lately MORE days than not....

BELOW is a POST from my Facebook page, where I had been commenting to a friend of mine who is going though some frightening issues with her liver, and her Diabetes. So, as I posted this, I wanted to "add" it here also... my numbers honestly here on my blog have fallen so much, and I know the holidays effects that, but also me not able to post as much, put up as much relevant information as I usually do... I desperately need to update the look and feel... I know it's getting outdated, and it is a matter of having the time to do those things, and those are what I really want to be able to work on....

I APPRECIATE those like yourself, that give back the feeling that "I matter"... I try my best to let others know I do appreciate each one of you that take time to even give a "thumbs up" I realize not all of us have time, or feel like Posting, but I always know someone "cares" by just a heart, a thumbs up, or a "face".... you too I realize have been through so much. I have to "say something" about a "comment" I read the other day. Some one made a comment that Facebook is NOT THE PLACE to "post your personal problems"????? WHY would we "want to connect here at all" if we were not looking for others either like ourselves that "need that extra push up" every once in a while, or to "see" we are NOT alone in this come and when I "post" personal issues, which health is very personal I think, 

I am NOT looking for an answer or someone to totally agree with me, or what, it is MY way, like my blogging and writing (partially)... the social media is a way to connect for many reasons, but since I have "no really close family or friends physically that I can "see" ) my son and daughter are about the only "close family" I have left, and my daughter is 8 hours away and we talk probably at least 3 or 4 times a week, but she cannot just "drop her kids, family and husband" to run 8 hours up here, and although my son lives close by, he has his own things also, he has been fighting with "FM" now for a long while, so he is trying to re-educate himself, by some short classes, where he can do certain jobs, that the ones he used to do, due to the FM he no longer can do, lots of very hard physical labor... even though he is 37, age as many of us know with some of these horrid illnesses, syndromes, chronic pain issues and so forth, AGE has nothing to do with it.... so he sends me messages, and if I NEED him, he could be with me quickly, and we keep up with each other, 

BUT he also knows ME, I really 'don't want" the feeling that I have to have someone doing everything for me. I LIKE doing all that I CAN DO myself... and it is hard for me to even ask for help, because all the years I did everything, from hanging ceiling fans, to painting, any kind of home improvement just about, the lawn, and so many things I've loved to do, I KNOW that even since my cervical neck surgery last April, I have "overdone" some stuff. I PRAY my neck is not messed up again, or my right shoulder, that ever since the neck surgery, it is the RIGHT ONE that has already been totally replaced by a "reverse total shoulder replacement" about 6 years ago, I think, but it has given me hell ever since the last neck surgery... of course I realize 'some things" I had been doing I've had to "stop" and either let my son do it, or my neighbors help some, or I just let it go, knowing it can wait, other than an emergency thing at the house, some things that I just could NOT stand to "let go" I've had to and I am STILL learning to "let them go"... but being alone with the pups now, I do as many things as I feel like, or that I can do, if possible.... yet trying to learn to say "no" I can't, or sit down and say I just hurt too badly today, etc... those are very hard things for many of us to do... not in our "genetic makeup" :)